By AUSTIN UNGLAUB
Another year, another NJAC championship for the Roadrunners basketball team. This years championship came after a 67-59 win over the 6th-seeded William Paterson Pioneers on Saturday in Mahwah.
Ramapo’s starting five are all seniors and have plenty of experience. The experience played a significant role in their win Saturday. They knew what to expect in the game after coming off last years championship.
Thomas Bonacum, a senior captain, led all scorers with 19 points in the game. He has been their go to guy all year and doesn’t shy away from the big moment. “It is truly an unreal feeling to win back to back championships for the first time in school history,” said Bonacum.
Aside from the stellar play from the Roadrunners, the atmosphere in the Bradley Center was electric. According to the Ramapo Athletics website the final attendance was 1,200 people which is the third highest reported attendance in the Bradley Center’s history.
“The crowd motivates us and keeps us fighting no matter what the score is. We wanted to win for them as much as we did for ourselves,” Bonacum added.
Defense has always been a point that is stressed by the coaching staff for Ramapo. The legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant once said, “Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.” That statement was proven true when talking about this years basketball team. They led the conference with only allowing 67.9 points per game.
They also have the conferences defensive player of the year on their team. Earlier in the week the NJAC announced its regular season accolades. Ramapo’s senior guard Josh Ford headlined the awards when he brought home his first career defensive player of the year award. For the game he was matched up primarily on the Pioneers guard Dapo Badmos. Badmos is William Paterson’s second leading scorer averaging just under 14 points per game. Ford had his number for the entire game. He held him to just seven points on 33 percent shooting in 26 minutes of play.
Listen: Connor Walsh on his thoughts about the game
The next step for the Roadrunners
The Roadrunners will play March 2nd in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a location and opponent to be announced. “We know we are going to have to work harder than we have ever worked before, especially on the defensive end because the NCAA tournament is always about who can get stops,” said Ford.
This will be the second straight year Ramapo has qualified for the NCAA Tournament. In last years tournament, the Roadrunners were one of the 16 first round hosts. They beat Misericordia in the first round before losing by one point to Keene State in the second round.
Just like the NJAC Tournament, the NCAA Tournament will likely require experience to be successful. “We were nervous last year going into the tournament because we weren’t sure what the atmosphere was going to be like. Now we know what it’s going to be like and we will prepare ourselves more and stay focused,” Ford said.
The Roadrunners will pack their bags and leave for Williamstown, MA on Thursday afternoon. They are matched up against Moravian College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This game will take place Friday night. The winner of this game will advance to the next round and face the winner of Williams College and Bridgewater State on Saturday night.
Related Link:
Great story! A lot of good insight on the seniors and how they have matured over the years at Ramapo. Good use of quotes from the players themselves. Also the audio clip of a Ramapo student was very complementary to the overall story, I can definitely see original reporting here.